My siblings

Don't I have the cutest brother and sister EVER!!! And they're super nice too. I LOVE you guys!

And yes, my brother is usually missing a shirt! Ha...

Clean up conversation

Ashlyn: Mom, can we play polly pockets?

Me: Yes, but first you have to clean up the mess you girls already made.

Ashlyn: Come on Leah, let's clean up.

(a few minutes later, Ashlyn is cleaning and Leah is twirling around and singing)

Ashlyn: Leah, you're a very good singer, but you're not a very good cleaner. You're not gonna get to play polly pockets if you don't help clean up.

Leah: *sigh* ok Ashlyn, I'll help clean up.

(I just loved Ashlyn's response to Leah when she wasn't helping clean up. I had to write it down to remember it.)

Temple Trip

Last Saturday we had a Primary Activity where we took all the kids on a tour of the Temple grounds. We meant to have the Sister missionaries do the tour for us, but they were booked, so we had to do it ourselves. Luckily we were able to find the notes from my last ward when they had done this activity (thanks a MILLION Genine. You saved us.), so we did the tour ourselves. Families were invited and then afterward we went over to the park to have lunch. It was such a neat experience to walk around the grounds with the kids and talk about some of the symbolism of the Temple. The whole tour was very hands on. The kids got to walk up and down the steps, count the trees, touch the temple, and even try to "tear apart" the family statue. We had a really good turn out and I think all the kids really enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures from the event (I had the younger kids). And below that, are the notes from our tour. It was so cool to realize how much thought and preparation goes into building each and every temple. I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids, if not more.

The Los Angeles Temple is 257 feet high and was the first temple built in California. For a short time it was the largest Temple, but was surpassed in size by the Salt Lake City Temple when the annex was added. But it can accommodate 300 people per session.

There are now 7 Temples in California.

The temple is 190,614 square feet and is on 13 acres of land.

The land was purchased from the Harold Lloyd Motion Picture Company (which was a silent film making company) on March 23, 1937. Because of The Depression and WWII, construction did not begin until September 22, 1951. That is 14 YEARS later.

It was dedicated March 11-14, 1956 by President David O. McKay

TOUR

Fountains

The fountains at the front sides of the Temple represent the waters of the Living God. The other one is to symbolize baptism by immersion and is the first ordinance we take to be able to go into the temple.

Flags

Who can find the flags on the temple grounds? Why do you suppose they are there? The flags represent that as members of the church we obey the laws of the land in which we live.

Steps

Count the steps to the entrance of the temple. There are five of them. The first step is Faith, second repentance, third baptism, fourth the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the fifth represents enduring to the end.

Doors

What does it say above the doors to the temple? Holiness to the Lord. What does that mean?

Trees

Count the trees that line the sidewalk way. There are 12 of them. They are Olive trees and they represent the 12 tribes of Israel. They were flown in from Jerusalem.

Baptismal Font

The doors to the baptistry is on the west side of the temple and are below ground to represent being born again after you are baptized. Talk about baptism by immersion.

Marriage

After you get married you come out of the doors in the back (north side) of the temple. No real significance. Mostly informational. And for crowd control to keep the front of the temple more peaceful and reverent.

Family Statue

The statue represents our belief that families that are sealed in the temple can not be torn apart as long as every member stays faithful. Have the kids try to pull the family apart by yanking on different arms.

Angel Moroni

The angel on top is 15 1/2 feet tall. When it was originally placed on top of the temple in October of 1954, it was facing southeast. President McKay came to visit the temple and informed the architect that it was in the wrong position, so they moved it to face due east. It is one of only 5 Angel Moroni’s who is holding the gold plates. He is also wearing clothes similar to the Nephites, instead of people from Israel. It is placed on top of the temple to call in the last dispensation and the coming of Christ.

Cornerstone

The cornerstone of the temple is the first stone laid when construction begins. It helps give the temple a solid foundation. It is on the east side of the temple. Let the children touch it.

"As we touch the temple, the temple touches us." - President Monson

This is pretty cool

This video got passed around at Paul's work....of course because of the Kung Fu Panda mention. But still, it's pretty fun to watch.

Final "Weekend in TX" post

I feel like I was in Texas forever ago and yet here I am, still trying to finish up posting about it.

On Saturday we had a surprise party for my Grandma's 75th birthday. We rented out a room in The Woodlands Resort and ate and laughed and shared fun memories of Grandma. Most of which included her making some sort of yummy food for us. Afterward, we went down to the pool and swam and ate some more and just enjoyed being together. It was such a fun day.

(Grandma with her four girls)

Sunday was the flight home. I was smart this time and got some benedryl for Brandon. It didn't make him sleep (I wasn't expecting it to), but it did help his ears. The flight was much better, though still hard. But at least he wasn't screaming his head off.

Now if you have ever been to Texas, you must know about Blue Bell ice cream. It is the BEST! And is basically only sold in Texas (although I think they are branching out a tiny bit). Well, the weekend was SO busy, I didn't get to have any. I was so bummed as we got to the airport. (I know what you're thinking....poor me. Blah blah blah. It wasn't that big of a deal really, but still. It is yummy ice cream). ANYWAY, we had some time to kill at the airport, so we stopped to get a bite to eat. I asked the guy at Wendy's if he knew of a place in the airport where we could get some Blue Bell. Much to my delight, he said "YES", and that it was in the next terminal over. It meant we had to hop a monorail, but we had PLENTY of time so we thought, what the heck, let's go! We got over to the next terminal, enjoyed our ridiculously OVER PRICED Blue Bell, and stopped for a bathroom break. About 40 minutes before our flight left, we thought we better head back over to our terminal and get ready for boarding. We get on the little monorail type train that takes you back to your terminal and waited for it to depart.......but it didn't. And it seemed quite full for a train that goes back and forth all day. We waited.....and waited.....10 minutes went by and we were still sitting there.....waiting. I couldn't believe it. They were having "technical problems" and now we were going to MISS our plane ALL because I wanted some (now) DUMB Blue Bell ice cream. IT WAS NOT WORTH IT!!! We contemplated walking back to our terminal, but then found out we'd have to LEAVE the airport and go back through security to get there. There was NO way. Not enough time. We crossed our fingers (said a little prayer) and hoped for the best. LUCKILY, the train got back up and running in a few more minutes and we got back to our gate shortly before they started the FINAL boarding call. Whew! I will NEVER do that again. NOT even for Blue Bell.

On the drive home. Even Ashlyn fell asleep. That's EXTREMELY rare.

THE END!

It's my turn now

Me and a few friends got together earlier this year and decided we wanted to do a mommy run preschool out of our homes for our three year olds. Leah has been anxiously awaiting her first day of school ever since Ashlyn started school a month ago. Well, today finally came and she was so excited. She even told me that she needed to wear "tennis shoes" since Ashlyn had to when she was in preschool too (this coming from a girl who wears flip flops year round). She also insisted on having a backpack and was more than willing to pose for her pictures at the stairs. Too cute! She of course had no problem when I dropped her off and had a great time while she was there (except for the boo boo she claims to have gotten, but I can find no evidence of it).

Day two...the wedding

I have to admit, I'm already getting tired of posting about last weekend, but I want it for the blurb book, so here I go again.

Let me start by saying, that if you're ever planning on getting married in Texas in August....DON'T. It's TOO blazing HOT. Seriously, we were dying from the humidity. That is not an exaggeration. But we some how suffered through it for Sydney because we love her and we wanted some darn pictures. It's always all in the name of pictures, right?

So Sydney got married on Friday morning in the Houston Temple, which is absolutely beautiful. As was she. The sealing was so sweet and I'm SO glad we were able to be there. Thank you to my wonderful sister and her hubby for coming early and watching my kids so that Paul and I could both be in the temple. Even if the lady at the front desk was grouchy to you (which she was....very grouchy. So not like most temple workers I've seen.) Anyway, after the sealing, we took a few pictures, and headed over to the church for a nice AIR CONDITIONED luncheon where my Uncle and his Barbershop Quartet sang, a few good toasts were given, and we all chatted and had a great time. That night was the reception. The girls had a BLAST dancing on the dance floor and watching Sydney and Nate cut the cake, dance their first dance together (as a married couple), and of course watch them do "true love's kiss". Do I have girly girls or what?

I thought these next two were the greatest pictures because they both made the same face when I told them to smile. Leave it to sisters.

My cute sister, Desiree, and her husband, Chad.

Paul and Brandon. Here Paul is explaining how he practically got kicked out of the temple by the "grouchy" front desk lady because he went in there to change Brandon's diaper in the waiting room restroom. She even made Paul pull the diaper out of the trash and take it with him out of the temple. Crazy lady huh?

My mom, sister and me.

The newlyweds walking out of the temple. Hooray!!!

Cute little Ashlyn. She was so excited to see Sydney and Nate get married and when we went to leave the temple, she said, "But I didn't get to see them get married yet?" Ah...poor little girl.

This is my one and only nephew Brent, who I swear can sleep anywhere. This is at the chapel while we were waiting for the luncheon to start.

I LOVE how Brandon makes a "zoom" sound when he plays with cars.

Apparently all three sisters make the same face when told to smile. How funny! I wonder if my Aunt does too?

All the little girls with Sydney. We don't have very many little kids in the family yet. Just four. And three of them are mine. Hooray for Brittany's baby. That will make five! So glad for Brandon that she's having a boy.

Every girls first love. Their daddy. And what a good one they have!

This little boy melts my heart!

Can you see my girls off to the side sitting so still in their chairs? They were mesmerized the entire time Sydney and Nate were dancing.

These luckies got to cut TWO cakes. Who gets to do that? Or am I just behind the times? The chocolate one was to DIE for. So yummy. Didn't even bother with the other one. Sorry Syd's. It looked quite pretty though.

Day one continued...

After getting off the plane and getting our rental car, which took forever, as usual, because they never seem to have carseats for us, even though I reserve them (does this happen to everyone else or am I just lucky?), we head to my Grandma's because she hooked us up with a totally nice 2 bedroom apartment style room for us to stay at. It was SO nice and roomy. Perfect for a family of five. It was a quick stop to drop off our luggage and get freshened up and then we headed over to my Aunt's house for a Texas style BBQ (of course).

Here's me and two of my favorite cousins (I have LOTS of favorites). Sydney is the one on the left. She's the bride. Yes, she's young. Nineteen to be exact. But she graduated early and is already a Senior at BYU this year. Yes, I have to brag. She's a smarty and totally cute too! The one in the middle is my cute cousin Brittany who is 8 months pregnant with her first little baby. A little boy due beginning of October. We are all SO SO excited for him to get here.

Ashlyn and Brandon "playing" the piano. I keep asking Ashlyn if she wants to take lessons, but she says she'd rather play the flute. Okay, whatever. Any instrument will do.

Here's my other favorite cousin Chelsea (on the left) and her little baby girl, Cali, who will be one in 12 days. In the middle is my totally great brother (who lives only 10 minutes from me) and then my Grandma (on my mom's side. She's also the only Grandma I have left. And really the only Grandma I've ever known.)

Leah saw my Aunt's pool and fell in love. I didn't think to bring her swimsuit over, so I let her get in, in her clothes. She played on the steps for over an hour I think. She was TOTALLY soaked, but had a great time.

Going...

Going.....

Gone.

We had this dying pine tree in our front yard. It was huge and it left TONS of needles ALL over the place. So we got rid of it. It's weird to see it gone. But I don't think I'm going to miss it. I think we'll plant a nice queen palm tree in it's place. Like the one our neighbors have. That will look much better. And leave less mess.